NEIGHBORHOOD REPORT: NEW YORK UP CLOSE; Fat Joe Faces a Different Music

Fat Joe, the hip-hop recording artist, seems to be sitting on top of the world. With his own label, Terror Squad Records, and his second album hitting No. 7 on the Billboard album chart the week it was released, Fat Joe is becoming one of the rising stars of hip-hop music.

But on Sept. 8, three days before thousands of fans turned out to celebrate the release of his new album at a midtown club, Fat Joe, a Bronx native whose real name is Joseph Cartagena, was arrested on robbery and assault charges as he autographed albums for fans at the HMV music store at 34th Street and the Avenue of the Americas in Manhattan.

The police said that on June 14, on Willis Avenue and 132d Street in the Mott Haven section of the Bronx, Mr. Cartagena, 28, and Christopher Rios, 26, another rapper known as Big Punisher, allegedly hit a man with a baseball bat and snatched his gold chain.

Mr. Cartagena and Mr. Rios have pleaded not guilty, according to the Bronx District Attorney's office, and are scheduled to appear in court on Oct. 16. Mr. Cartagena's lawyer, Philippe Dussek, who the district attorney's office said is also representing Mr. Rios, had no comment. (Mr. Cartagena could not be reached.)

Despite his arrest, he didn't disappoint his fans at the midtown nightclub Carbon, on West 55th Street, where the club said 3,000 people turned up for a Sept. 11 album party. ''People were talking about the arrest as they waited on line out on the street, but he still came to perform,'' said an administrative assistant at the club, Rosa Draper.

During the summer, Fat Joe was spotted partying in East Hampton, Long Island, with the music-industry executive Puffy Combs. But people in his old Bronx neighborhood Melrose, where he grew up in the projects and is considered a local celebrity, say he hasn't forgotten the place, and still comes around regularly.

Two years ago, he tried to bring some of his newfound fame and fortune back home, opening Fat Joe's Halftime, a hip-hop clothing store at Melrose Avenue and 150th Street and Fat Joe's Hip Hop Barbershop at 3021 Third Avenue. The clothing store, apparently under new ownership, has been renamed the Spot. The barber shop is closed, a for-rent sign on the storefront.

In recent years, rap music has generated controversy over lyrics that celebrate crime, as have the violent deaths of the rappers Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G.

Some people in the neighborhood said last week they were surprised by Fat Joe's arrest. ''He got too much money for that,'' said Phil Rivera, 19, who works at Dr. Jay's, a clothing store in Melrose.

Shanta Holloway, 21, a sales clerk at the Spot, said the rapper sometimes stopped in to say hello. ''There's no need for him to be out there robbing and stealing,'' she said, as ''Still Not a Player,'' Fat Joe's latest hit with Big Punisher, played in the background. MARINA LAKHMAN